So it's ANOTHER snow day in the northeast, and a bunch of other places too. I have two boys, ages two and four. Snow days are WAY different now. My kids love school. I have to be prepared for the 30+ minute tantrum upon learning we aren't going to "our" schools today- as a teacher, my kids know we all go to school every day. OK, I survived that tantrum. Some breakfast, some train track building, a little playdoh, and it was outside we go. Big boy was BEGGING as was the little. Well, until I actually had them in seventeen hundred layers and opened the garage door- our garage is the ONLY point of exit when it snows, because there is no effing way I am shoveling the front walk and stairs when no one actually comes here other than me, in the car, through the garage. The boys stared at the six or so inches of snow, and Mr. M says, "Mommmmmmeeeeee, can't we move to FLORIDA? This is GROSS." Well buddy, I agree, but I do have a job here, and a house, and a life. Got them into the snow on their 'sleighs'. They were happy for fifteen seconds. Whining, crying, misery. About to go back inside but then they saw "Nana" Hannah next door, shoveling. Well, shovels are fun. Away we went. M proved to be a pretty good shoveler but J only made it three passes before he split his lip open on the shovel handle. Inside with Pepe he went. M lasted another four passes before we all went in. Mac and cheese, some bananas, and a few peanut butter cups later, it was time to venture the twenty feet or so home. It should have been SO EASY. Snort. Yeah right. All of a sudden M's boots didn't fit- he came home with ziploc bags duct taped around his ankles. J wouldn't allow his feet to even touch the snow. So I have two sleds, with more mac and cheese, a few toy cars, and M's suddenly too small boots, on them. Add a four year old NOT listening on where to walk? Yeah, it was a total disaster. Fifteen minutes later we got to our garage. J is crying, M is crying, Mommy is crying. Fast forward- no naps for the boys, but some quiet time, when Mommy snoozed for about twenty minutes during Caillou. By then, the plow had been here. Time to shovel. My driveway isn't conducive to plowing- I still have a three foot swath that has to be shoveled so I can get out- usually I do that first, and the plow guy pushes that snow along with the rest. Not today- Mr. Plow Guy was WAY too on the ball. The boys were playing cars and watching "Spica Me" (Despicable Me) so I figured I had seven minutes. I was FAST. It got done.
And then I came upstairs. To a snowman. In the family room. The slider was WIDE open. "But mommy, you said it was too cold to play in the snow OUTSIDE. See, now the snow is INSIDE!". Heaven help us. *#&%*#^$#^%Q@&)(@
One day, they will get older, and snow days will be fun again...
